5 Replies - 3166 Views - Last Post: 19 April 2012 - 01:01 PM

App Development Pressure

Posted 01 February 2012 - 09:46 PM

Taking a break from working on updates to my Android app and I have been thinking about this over the past few days. Ever since I released this app two weeks ago. I have been working on it almost every night tweaking and adding things to it. I have got like 20 downloads so far. The version I released was functional but didn't have all the features I has slated for it but if I would have waited until I had all of those it probably would have been another month before I go it out and I wanted to get user feedback on I had so far and take suggestions for improvements.

I have seen other apps on the marketplace do the same thing. Just wondering if other app developer here feels the same pressure I do after they release a app to keep updating it and adding stuff to it? Now, I almost feel like I should have waited until I had all the features I had thought up in it before releasing it as I think it may have caused some uninstalls but having it out has made me more motivated to get those features added.

Replies To: App Development Pressure

Re: App Development Pressure

Posted 02 February 2012 - 07:53 AM

If it was bad enough to make users uninstall, then yah you probably should have done more in-house testing. Give it to half a dozen friends first and get their feedback before releasing it into the wild.

But otherwise I think you did it about right - at least in theory without seeing the actual application. Can you imagine if the developers of USB1.1 kept pushing back the release until it was perfect? There would never have been USB 2.0, then USB3. Same thing here.

Re: App Development Pressure

Posted 02 February 2012 - 12:06 PM

All of the features of the app at the release date where tested. My app had more features than other apps at the same price. I did find out things that I would only know by others using the app. I don't know why people uninstalled I am only assuming that the lack of features of the more expensive apps may have cost me some sales. I didn't really do this for the money but to have this on my resume and just maybe make something from all my hard work. I did learn a lot from releasing this app and about the development process. You live and you learn I guess.

Re: App Development Pressure

Posted 16 February 2012 - 12:35 PM

Here is my 2 cents,

The trick is to take a methodological approach to designing the app. You created its core functionality and now you are adding on additional features. It would have been better to wait and add on a few more features before releasing your app into the wild. An iterative approach would maybe be a good approach to your project. In each phase, you will design a set of features, implement them, test them, and then perform some kind of final analysis. You then start the process all over again for another set of features you want to add.

In regards to people using your app,

There are multiple factors in why a user will pick one app over another, but some key principles to keep in mind are:

What kind of user is the app targeted towards?

Is the GUI both aesthetically pleasing, intuitive, and easy-to-use?

Is the application quickly responsive to user input?

How does the application compare to other applications of the same type? For example, is the other application simpler? better designed? etc.

On a side note: Always be sure to heavily test any additional features to the system. Increasing the complexity of any system leads to an increased probability of errors occurring.

Re: App Development Pressure

Posted 16 February 2012 - 02:04 PM

Good advice. That is what I am doing now. Now with every update I have a list features that need to be added before I release a new update. I fix bugs in between and just go from there. I want the app to be successful, who wouldn't, but I more just want the knowledge of how do it and to build confidence in my coding skills and learning the entire development process so I can go into an interview and say that I have done something from concept, to code, to testing, to live bug fixing. Tonight I will release an update that fixes an error in the way I am storing dates in the database. I think it is all good experience and I learn from the mistakes. I really like working on this app and while it has taken some of my free time I think I have found a good balance now with setting goals for each iteration of the app.